By F1 writer and broadcaster James Allen

FOTA to attack FIA with new dossier

A ping on the inbox on this most extraordinary of afternoons and a statement from FOTA appears.

This one is interesting because it suggests that they plan ‘regrettably’ to publish a dossier of reasons why the current FIA plans for Formula 1 are bad for the sport, in their opinion and why the whole thing is proving a turn-off for fans.

“In response to the erroneous statement made today by FIA, the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) wishes to underline that the entries of all its members – excluding the temporarily suspended Force India and Williams – have been submitted to the FIA as conditional entries.

“The entries to the 2010 FIA F1 Championship submitted by BMW-Sauber, BrawnGP, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull Racing, Renault, Toro Rosso and Toyota were based upon conditions that have still yet to be met.

“FOTA will continue to act constructively on resolving differences with the FIA. Regrettably FOTA is being forced to outline in detail our objections to the new arbitrary FIA proposals and we will release details of our concerns in the near future which will constructively explain why the FIA’s proposals are bad for the future of Formula One, the jobs of those employed within the motor-racing industry and especially the millions of loyal fans who are dismayed and confused at the internal bickering within our sport.

“FOTA reaffirms the unity and strength of its members, welcomes the three new F1 entrants announced today and remains committed to work with all the bodies of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile to resolve our differences.”

Stories continue to circulate that this process is pushing two of the manufacturers, Toyota and Renault, to review their participation in F1. But when you speak to the teams themselves they say that this is all spin. Nevertheless, Renault and Toyota are engine suppliers to Red Bull and Williams respectively, so other teams are involved. Frank Williams said on Saturday that he has a contract with Toyota for next year and his entry is listed as being Williams Toyota. But Red Bull Racing is listed as TBA on the engine side, as is Toro Rosso, currently a Ferrari customer and Brawn, currently with Mercedes.

You state, more than once, that RBR are down as a TBA in terms of their engine suppy, yet on your scan of the FIA press release [further down the page] they are listed as RBR Renault. Have a missed something?

an⋅ar⋅chy
/ˈænərki/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [an-er-kee] Show IPA
–noun
1. a state of society without government or law.
2. political and social disorder due to the absence of governmental control: The death of the king was followed by a year of anarchy.
3. a theory that regards the absence of all direct or coercive government as a political ideal and that proposes the cooperative and voluntary association of individuals and groups as the principal mode of organized society.
4. confusion; chaos; disorder: Intellectual and moral anarchy followed the loss of faith.

so FOTA are trying to speak for the fans now? personally, as much as I don’t want the FIA as my mouth-piece, I’m not sure either if I want Ferrari to line me up behind them as they have the other teams.

if you want to know what the fans really think, try asking them. use the race venues, use the net, use phone polling, but don’t blindly talk on their behalf to promote your own agenda, Luca.

I love F1 and watch it religiously, but today I want the 8 teams of FOTA to walk away. if they are willing to take the risk and put their team on the line for what they believe in, I am willing to risk it as a fan and give up F1 viewing.

show Mosely that you mean what you say, that you are united (he doesn’t believe you are), withdraw your conditional entry and send him the proof that his actions are destroying the sport. use your 2010 budget for legal fees and hopefully, we’ll see you on the grid in 2011 and Max long gone.

It states that “the FIA needs a modernised and transparent governance system and processes, including the revision of its constitution, to ensure the voice of its members, worldwide motorsport competitors and motorists are properly reflected”

That is what this whole saga is all about after all – ousting Max, Bernie and their rotten little system. Nobody has stated it as unequivocally as this before.

I think this will go all the way. I can’t imagine Max stepping aside for the good of the sport as he has had many chances to do it before today and if this is the stated position of these companies then they will have no choice but to leave.

Time to go down the bookies and put £10 on Nico Rosberg to win the world championship next year.

I used to be a local elected officer in a trade union which regularly had various factions arguing over who could do what and why, as well as our arguments with the employer over previous verbal agreements and written contracts.

A favourite tactic was to simply proceed with our interpretation of the rules on the basis that anybody who disagreed would have to prove us wrong. Usually, because we’d read them first (or even written them), we were right, and the challenges eventually dissipated.

This seems to be exactly the situation we have here. The FIA’s case is that there is an existing agreement with Ferrari (and others), and if they were to accept the conditional entry rather than the prior agreement I suspect they would lose any right to redress in the courts under that agreement.

Put more concisely – if they weren’t on the list, they couldn’t be sued if they decide not to play next year.

My feeling is that so far Max has played a blinder and that he has a couple of concessions in his pocket to allow this to be sorted fairly soon, possibly minus one or two mass market manufacturers who are looking for an excuse anyway.

These companies don’t have an especially lengthy or prestigious history in F1, contrary to the thoughts of many I’ve read over the past few weeks. Toyota set their own team up in the late nineties, and BMW and Renault “partnered” established racing teams. There is no reason they couldn’t do this with Manor, USF1, Prodrive or even a “reborn” Sauber or “Enstone F1” when the economy is more favourable to chucking money at racing cars again.

In the meantime, those of us who just want to see fast loud things will have another couple of years of underdogs having a chance, which is never a bad thing!

I agree, if I were an executive in the motor industry I would be running as fast as I could. The apparent lack of checks and balances, oversight, transparency and ethical governance committee would make dealing with any part of F1 more problematic than any country you could name. I am surprised that major corporations are allowed to commit the sums they do without contravening their own internal governance rules.
These do exist and the current state of flux well might be raising the concern of such internal committees, and CEO’s of major public companies have to take careful consideration of such views.

The really interesting problem for Max and Bernie is if they push the manufacturers far far away, who will manufacture the engines. My understanding is that Cosworth has not the capacity, and that the rules specify a maximum number of teams that any manufacturer may support (oh I forgot, Max can change the rules when he likes).

For me the interesting issue is the FOTA entrants that have been accepted with no engine supply. My understanding was that all entrants, as part of the terms of acceptance, had to have an engine contract in place (oh yes…I forgot..see previous comment).

I hope there is another series, then I can watch superfast machines on traditional tracks spurned by Bernie, and then swith over and watch Max’s show to see how the new teams stagger round. Open wheeler fan heaven. But then I am an old tragic who follows and has gone to see A1GP

I think I would enter another high profile existing series instead of trying to invent a new one. My competitors already compete in it and it includes the most famous endurance race in the world, which happens to be this weekend. It has no budget cap and speeds far in excess of F1.

It would all depend on the marketing value I get from my company’s involvement in F1.

If it turns out the marketing numbers are good, I would tell my Norbert Haug, Mario Theissen, or Flavio Briatore to find a solution to the current crisis. At some point I would find out that motorcycle racing broke away from their governing body – FIM – and a company called Dorna was now running Moto GP and that in some countries attracted bigger crowds than F1.

If the marketing numbers were not good I would tell my people to wind down the operation.

All the comparison talk has been about the IRL/CART split in the US. I propose that another lesson to be learned from motor racing over here. A lesson that involves racing governance bodies exercising too much control over teams & standards and maybe irreparably damaging the sport .

Does a drive to increase cost efficiencies and make for closer competition sound familiar to F1 fans? In 2006 that’s exactly what NASCAR proposed with their Car of Tomorrow. By 2007, this car was forced onto the teams who were left with only slight body and engine choices to differentiate themselves from each other. From the beginning, drivers complained publicly about the poor performance of the car and it’s propensity to reduce the races to single file processions with little overtaking opportunities.

Let’s compound this with a systematic switch from many of the very traditional but smaller, poorer, tracks to newer, rich, mega-circuits with all the “right” facilities. Suddenly the traditional NASCAR fan was finding that him & his RV were not so welcome anymore.

For better of for worse, NASCAR fans expect their cars to bump, spin & crash on their way to victory lane and they love the feuds between drivers. The CoT failed to deliver and slowly but surely, one of the largest live & TV sports audiences in the US started to dwindle. Fast forward to 2009, the traditional NASCAR track sellout is over (the economy could have some influence) but what is more worrying to the sport is that TV audiences are in what one network described as a “death spiral.”

I recommend that F1 & the powers at the FIA play close attention. The NASCAR debacle proved that the fans come to see their favorite teams racing. The Ferrari cognoscenti will wave their flags proudly even if their team finishes behind Force India. They have no such allegiances to Max, Bernie or the organizations they represent.